This invention relates to molds for manufacturing pants, and more particularly to molds used in making a pair of pants with molding of the material from which the pants are made.
The invention relates to the manufacture of pants using heat-settable material (e.g., knitted polyester material) with molding of the material, and especially to molds used in manufacturing the pants. Reference may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,763,499, issued Oct. 9, 1973 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,638, issued June 25, 1974 for disclosures in the same general field as the present invention. It is particularly directed to molds for making ladies' pants (slacks) though not limited to such pants, ladies' pants with a good fit being more difficult to make than men's pants. Until recently, the manufacture of pants has involved relatively standard garment manufacturing procedures including cutting of pieces with curved edges to form the pants and sewing of the pieces with curved seams and/or darts, to make the pants have a better fit. Such procedures are relatively time-consuming and costly. Cutting with curved edges and/or sewing with curved seams is wasteful of material, and forming darts is labor-intensive. The aforesaid patents disclose techniques for manufacturing pants (U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,638 also discloses techniques for manufacturing other garments) involving molding for a better fit with reduction of cutting and sewing operations. This invention carries this art further.